The Ringing Bell of Anakin Skywalker
by Iscreamer1
Summary: In this alternate universe, Anakin Skywalker seeks revenge on Sharad Hett and his Tusken Raiders for the death of his mother, but to succeed, he must live like one of them. Based on the 1978 anime Ringing Bell/Chirin no Suzu.
1. Episode 1: Innocence

**Author's note: The majority of this story is based on the 1978 anime** ** _Chirin no Suzu,_** **known as** ** _The Ringing Bell of Chirin,_** **and not upon the original children's book of the same title by Takashi Yanase or any other adaptation.**

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Over the flat lands and far away on the desert planet of Tatooine was a small hovel, a homestead to a large family of farmers who lived in peace despite the heat waves that came down upon them. If you were to ask them if there was a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from. The residents in question who owned the farm were Cliegg and Edern Lars, two brothers whose family along with their parents had owned the land for many generations on the Great Chott salt flat. Cliegg was married to a young woman named Shmi whom he bought out of slavery and gave birth to two boys, Owen and Anakin whom they adored. The only other people who lived at the household were Beru Whitesun, Owen's playmate and friend and a protocol droid named C-3PO, built by Anakin.

Anakin was born in the spring. At nine years old with sandy blond hair and blue eyes, he was cute, small, scruffy and had more energy than all the other children on the planet put together. When he was born, his first gift was a golden bell necklace given to him by his mother in case he got lost, and it rung for miles around, able to let other people know where he was. The string used to hold the bell was made of elastic material, which would grow with him until he fully reached adulthood. Anakin loved the sound of his bell and figured that his mother could find him even in a deep gorge. Even though he liked to fix things and knew most of the cities and surrounding areas around the planet, Anakin didn't know a lot about life itself or what it had to offer. He would often see things he knew nothing about, things that would surprise and sadden him, but as he got older, the time would come when he would learn about the wonders and dangers of life.

On the very day that spring had turned into summer, Anakin was ready to enjoy playing or scavenging for junk, but his brother and soon-to-be-sister-in-law were too busy helping the adults to gather water from moisture vapors for the summer that was quickly setting in. He jumped around, played hide and seek behind one of the GX-8 moisture vaporators and even tried to climb one of them before realizing it would never suit his parents. He saw Owen gathering water and asked him.

"Want to look for some new parts with me?"

"I would, but I have to get the water before we all die from this heat."

Disheartened, Anakin could not bother asking Beru or any other children from the moisture farms, he took fifteen steps, then twenty, until he was about a hundred feet away from the homestead, chasing a sketto that seemed harmless before he fell face first and saw a shadow much bigger than him. The shadow belonged to his mother and she was more calm than upset, smiling at him as her son went into his arms and after some happy chuckling, Shmi scooped her son into her arms and tapped his nose with her right index finger before she said.

"Anakin, as much as I understand how energetic you are. You must promise me that you will never to go into the Jundland Wastes. For those mountains are the home of the Sand People, led by Sharad Hett and his son A'Sharad. It is a very scary place and the Hetts live on the top of the tallest mountain. They do not take too kindly to humans and legend has it that the Tusken Raiders are cannibals. They also like to eat the tender meat of almost any animal that they seek."

"That's silly!" Anakin chuckled, thinking his mother was trying to scare him.

"Why do you ask?"

"It'll be hard for them to eat with all that fur. I think they should eat flowers and regular food like blue milk, they're much more tastier."

"But nevertheless, they're still dangerous."

Nearby, a galoomp digging for desert plums shot some small clouds of dust that drew Anakin's attention. His listening ears were fading away from the last thing his mother instructed him.

"Promise me, Anakin. Promise me that you will never go within a mile away from the salt flat."

But the time she said those words were the same time Anakin decided to go after the galoomp. Shmi chuckled to herself, it seemed to her like Anakin was like a wild animal, a cub at least, curious about other species and what lay beyond the flat horizon.

It was sunset by the time the others returned home and although Shmi had gone back to the vaporators (picking up electronic supplies from Tosche Station along the way), she didn't realize until then that Anakin had not returned. After asking the other farmers, her replies met with a vague "No, I haven't." she marched to the desert, going at least five miles inland.

"Anakin!" she called thirty minutes or so.

After her right hand wiped her brow from some leftover sweat taken by the twin suns, she slammed her fists into her hips and asked in a low voice.

"Anakin, where have you gone?"

Then she cupped both hands to her mouth and called out once more.

"ANAKIN!"

A sigh from her throat passed, her legs carried her closer and closer to the dangerous territory of the mountains. If Anakin could not use his voice, let alone clap his hands or stomp his feet, the golden bell she had given to him on the very day that was born was her only hope. She passed a few of Tatooine's fauna, most of them herbivores, silently wondering if they had seen a nine year old boy in sand colored clothes.

When she was at the foot of the mountains, she looked up, moaning at the thought of her little boy having been mauled by the Tuskens even after she had warned him about them. At the top of her lungs, she bellowed.

"WHERE ARE YOU, ANAKIN?!"

Just when she made a sigh of defeat, it had turned into a sigh of relief when she heard the familiar sound of a bell ringing just a few feet away from her behind a brown rock. Walking closer, she found Anakin, napping on his hips and resting his head in his hands. She leaned down and her own hands gently rocked his body until his eyelashes fluttered.

"Mom? How did it get dark so soon?"

"You fell asleep."

Anakin yawned and his eyes opened further to see his mother, relieved, yet unhappy.

"Where have you been? It's well past your curfew, you bad boy! You cannot imagine how worried I was, and after I just told you about the Sandpeople as well."

Like any child would be, Anakin felt guilty. He may have been nine, but he was still naive about a great certainty of things.

"I'm sorry, Mommy. I was just chasing the galoomp and he led me all the way here, I was tired and I didn't know exactly how late it would be."

Instead of a hit like he would have imagined, Shmi pulled her son into a hug as the tears soaked her face and Anakin's shoulders.

"It's okay, Anakin. I still love you."

And so they walked home into the red glow of the sunset, with Anakin reminiscing about the galoomp.

"I promise I won't do it again," he said, giving her reassurance. "From now, I won't go chasing after anymore animals."

The following day was a day like any other day, with tomorrow being no different. The breeze was gentle and soothing and the temperature was cool. It blew into the flora all the way through autumn, with no major effects on the environment that could be found on a planet that was lush and green. Anakin and Shmi were the last to witness the last sunset of spring and looked back on their perfect season of peace, where the children could play ball and watch podraces twice a day during the summer before. The slaves in the cities of scum and villainy were even given a raise even a couple of days off compared to their regular schedules. Owen and Beru went on several dates into Mos Eisley, sharing meals and not being able to take their eyes off of each other, C-3PO knew how to clean off some of the dirt and dust on his plating all by himself and Cliegg and Edern were helping pay off a few debts to their parents, who were off-world, finding charitable ways to support them. (Not that they had the time to visit them every day, of course.)

It was the night before the end of fall and all through the Lars homestead, peace was to be shattered, not even by a womp rat…but something far more vicious. A terrible raid was going to happen. Unaware of what danger could occur, Shmi and Anakin were sleeping in the same bad as they always did when came the sound of a wild animal crying. But it did not sound sad with the atmosphere of all the household objects remaining still with care, and what would come next would cause quite a start. Owen and Beru, nestled so snug in their beds, were the second to hear the cries of the wild animal that was probably looking for its mother. Little did they know that they would have nightmares of creatures who walked like men, but were mindless and vicious beasts who attacked settlements and convoys. The three moons that hung over the land cast an eerie pall, enlarging the shadows of the intruders and the wild cries of war now grew louder and louder.

Cliegg and the other farmers, who were now spending the night in the hovel after a large feast to celebrate the finest crops they had gathered for the following months, took several steps outside the house. And what did the wondering eyes of the others inside should see but nomadic warriors wearing sand colored robes, armed with gaderffii weapons….and two distinctive leaders holding green lightsabers, wearing masks that were horrid and gruesome, they knew in a moment that this was Sharad Hett and his son out for the hunt.

With a true sense of sadistic joy, Sharad aimed his green lightsaber at the heart of a farmer named Cole Fardreamer. He was assisted by a violent wind that seemed to come to his aid when he gestured his left hand into the house. It was strong enough to blow the farmers back inside and before Cole knew it, his chest had now been embedded by six inches of a glowing green sword. Blood gushed from his heart where the saber had struck and he was coughing up a storm before he went limp and was poked at by a Tusken Raider at least three times before his comrades pressed on. Shmi, C-3PO and the children came to see the hustle that took place, with the Sandpeople searching through the drawers for anything that seemed valuable in their own eyes.

The creatures that Anakin saw before him, looked as though they came straight from a crypt. A female farmer named Falynn Sandskimmer was bludgeoned by the gaderffii of a Tusken named K'Sheek, who was also a woman who knew how to fight. But she was no match for the equally female Sandperson who then broke her neck with masculine hands and she joined Cole Fardreamer to the ground.

A younger looking Tusken who had a long braided tail from the back of his hair with a silver mouthpiece for the mask and red eyes that made him appear to be possessed by a demon, turned his attention to Anakin who stepped forward, staring at him in astonishment. The Tusken, likely to be A'Sharad, seemed to hesitate before activating his own lightsaber of a green color and brought it to the ground. Shmi somehow knew that this move was intended to kill, there was a vision of fear coming into her eyes.

"NOOOOOOO!"

And she ran in front of her son, the human shield that she was, until she felt her Adam's apple being cut open by a flash of green. All Shmi could see was a creature of evil, a devil before her eyes, when she felt herself and her whole world falling down, down, down…...As Anakin felt his mother's back falling on top of him, the sound of a voice was heard.

"Take the mushrooms! We are done here."

What happened next for six minutes later was the sound of fading footsteps and complete silence.

Anakin pulled himself free from his mother's body and looked left and right. From there, he reviewed the damage and the fallen bodies that lay on the floor. He yawned, smiling to himself that the Sandpeople were gone and rested his head against his mother's abdomen.

"I'm so lucky he didn't get me, 'cause I wanna go back to sleep. Don't you, Mommy?"

There was no response and when he opened his eyes his smile faded as he asked again.

"Mommy?"

His hands helped the upper half of his body up and he surveyed her body as he moved his right leg over her. Then he shook her chest, thinking that she was still in shock from the attack.

"Mommy, what's wrong?"

He moved closer to her head, where he could see her eyes open, staring into the abyss. Cliegg got up as well and feared the worst for his wife.

"Did the Tusken hurt you?" Anakin asked again as his hands reached for his mother's throat. "I learned my lesson, I'll stay away from the mountains."

He started to shake her, almost throttling her with his hands. The others who watched were beginning to realize that something worse was amidst as the tone of Anakin's voice grew frantic.

"Mommy, what's wrong?!"

Then he noticed the blood. Pulling back his hands, he noticed that his palms had turned scarlet.

"Mommy?" he quivered. "What's this red stuff?"

Beru's lips began to shake, quietly answering for him.

"It's….blood."

Weather Anakin heard her, his mental instincts or both, he was now experiencing an overwhelming moment of confusion and grief.

"No...Don't die, Mommy, please don't die!"

Then he buried his face into her breasts and he started to cry. His sobs grew louder as he slammed his hands on her shoulders, pleading for her to wake up. Then he screamed until his voice grew sore.

"DON'T LEAVE ME, MOMMY! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

Cliegg walked over to Anakin and his left hand was about nine inches away from Anakin's back before his eyes went to his oldest son and the two nodded their heads, mentally agreeing that Anakin needed some personal space, giving him some time to be alone. Beru felt the tears coming on as her hands clasped her cheeks, preventing herself from crying with Anakin. C-3PO, being a protocol droid, didn't understand this gesture. He walked over to his master, kneeled down and moved his right hand closer to the sobbing boy.

"Master Anakin, perhaps if we go back inside-"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Finally, the droid understood. He stood up and bowed his head in reply.

"As you wish."

The others returned to their beds, but Anakin stayed behind, his tears soaking his mother's dress from top to bottom. His own body was slumped against hers, his sobs began to quiet down until finally he moaned in despair.

"It's not fair…"

Anakin asked himself: "Why did he kill my mother? Why must we weaklings be murdered? We never did anything wrong."

Without even noticing that the blood of his mother had now stained the front locks of his hair, Anakin discovered an emotion that was so sudden and new. He felt it the moment he raised the upper half of his body. His face was flushing, his eyes turned to the desert bathed in moonlight and before he knew it, he was walking with purpose, going outside the hovel. He didn't care about his family, or any supplies he needed to survive the harsh environment, all of his happiness had been enshrouded by darkness and he owed nothing to the family who just stood there, helpless and unable to save his mother. The new feeling he felt had a name: loathing.

Taking one last look at his home, Anakin silently vowed to ensure that Sharad Hett and his Tusken Raiders would never harm his family or anyone else's families ever again. And off he ran, never looking back with one purpose: he was going to make the man responsible with for mother's murder suffer with a dish of justice.


	2. Episode 2: Training

It was still dark when Anakin approached the foot of the mountain where his mother found and scolded him just four months ago. He pushed that memory aside when he had placed his right foot on the first piece of stone above the sandy flat desert and pulled himself onto a passage of rocks through a clearing, unable to imagine where he had been for the past three hours, one minute he was in his safe little hovel, the next he had broken his mother's promise by going all the way to the mountains of the Jundland Wastes. He tried to feel brave as he climbed up and up, yet all he wanted was to get rid of the vicious, evil and altogether inhumane Sharad Hett and his clan, who took his mother's life away like a firefly from the dark underworld of the hereafter. A part of him wanted to go back, but he had to keep climbing all the very to the top of the mountain that overlooked the canyon known as the Wound.

Slowly he struggled on, reaching the top without stopping for a breath, the only other sounds being the ringing of his bell. Closer and closer to the top he got when the feet of a sleeping Tusken came into his view. The sounds of his feet grew quieter as more of the sleeping Sandpeople appeared and he used his opportunity to speak in a voice that hoped no one but the one he was searching for would hear.

"Sharad Hett…where are you?"

His destiny was drawing closer, but he stopped, taking a moment to realize what greater intelligence was hidden in his mind. He began to see it was illogical for a boy his size to take on an army of Raiders, at the same time going "Hello, I'm here to kill you." And so, placing his right index finger and thumb against his slowly widening smile, Anakin hatched a plan and he thought it up quick.

The plan was complete by the time he turned around to face the shadow of the great Sharad Hett standing before him. Anakin stared back at him, his vision going straight into the eyes of the most evil and appalling creature whose face under the mask was likely to be a hideous disgrace of all that was humane of the inhuman Tuskens. His cautious gaze of the fearless leader was debellated by the voice of supremacy, that was hallow and resembled that of a wise old sage.

"I sensed your presence…what brings you into this…hallowed…and most forbidden…no man's land?"

Anakin enacted the first part of his plan.

"I want to be your apprentice."

Sharad glared.

"You are too late, my son has already fill the position, and will be the true heir to my clan when the time has come to leave the plane of the living."

"But I want to be strong," Anakin's fists clenched. "A strong person who isn't weak or timid who stands around and only searches for food like a regular moisture farmer does."

Silence followed and Anakin could tell that even without the mask, Sharad's face was emotionless and still as the reply he was not going to give.

"I can be a great warrior."

Nothing he could say would make the King of Sandpersons give in to his demands. So Anakin, gathering more courage than before, stood firm and tall, trying to be mature.

"Teach how to be like a Tusken Raider. I will do whatever you say, no matter how hard it is."

Sharad's head tilted by five degrees, was this kid being serious? He remained silent for five seconds before he replied.

"Go back to your hovel, I'm sure your family must be looking for you. And when you are old enough, my son can take your heart…for desert."

Anakin crossed his arms, almost revealing the true nature of his plan when he spoke nest.

"I'd rather protect them….from rival Tusken tribes. But how about this, Sharad? If I am just as worthy as your son, you can secure for me a place in your tribe alongside your family…if not, your son can kill me then and I can rejoin my mother in the afterlife."

Sharad's eyes headed to the east, where the city of Mos Eisley lay below in a far corner of the valley.

"Perhaps…if you were exactly my son's age, then we can have a challenge to see who is the strongest."

Anakin felt insulted by the shaman's mention of the word "age".

"You're just making fun of me because I'm a kid, aren't you?"

"Even boys your age must prove themselves worthy by preforming acts of strength and fear in order to weaken the enemy."

"Good," he smiled, turning away. "Because I am not going to ask you again."

And he was halfway down the mountain by the time the boy shouted back: "I'll become a warrior on my own! You'll see!"

Even if his family was searching for him, Anakin knew that he had already decided not to return to the homestead until he had found the strength to protect his family. He pondered over his deal, asking to himself if it had been worth it, yet he had to find some way of proving himself worthy through tasks of strength, fear as well as perhaps hunting. He stopped at the bottom, remembering Sharad's gaze to the city of Mos Eisley, figuring that maybe, just maybe, he could prove himself worthy there.

A wretched hive of scum and villainy as it was called, Mos Eisley had the strangest buildings that Anakin had never seen before but had only heard of, since he kept his limits within the Lars homestead and Tosche Station for the last nine years of his life. He felt strange walking alone, but it made him feel independent, getting used it only hours after his mother just died. When he arrived there, it was dawn, and Chalmun, the proprietor of nearby Cantina was opening up. Aliens of many species crowded the streets, small at first then larger. Sure enough, children around his age were waking up to start a brand new day. Anakin was starting to envy them, some of them still had their mothers and in his own heart, he thought they were lucky.

He came to the cantina where the band Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes played it's usual theme of a tip-tapping jazz music. The lighting was dim and the occupants of the bar as he strolled in like a boss and slammed his right fist on the countertop table.

"Get me a cup of Jawa Juice please?"

He was, admittedly, thirsty and he hoped that Chalmun would have some pity on his parched throat giving it some liquid. But Chalmun locked his eyes down upon him and gave the boy a negative smile.

"Whatever you say, but we don't serve minors here."

Anakin leaned forward.

"How about you leave the jokes to the comedians? I'm a Tusken Raider in training."

The band stopped, the others turned to him and when it seemed like he had gained his first minute of fame, Anakin was met by a chorus of rambunctious laughs in many alien languages. Some even choked on their drinks and spat the contents out behind the countertop table. The Modal Nodes resumed and the laughter died down.

"Now that's a joke!" Chalmun guffawed.

Dissatisfied, Anakin turned clockwise to the door and said.

"You'd better watch your back, 'cause someday, I'm going to make you all my prey."

He was met by another round of laughs as he was completely out the door.

 _Maybe they were too big to start out with,_ Anakin thought as he was thirty feet away from the cantina. _I need someone whose around my age. Sharad even implied that I needed to be A'Sharad's age if I want to face him._

Over by the tall tower, a row between a black-haired boy and a red-haired kid who appeared to be slightly older than him drew his attention. He seemed to be interrogating him the hard way pushing him against the wall.

"Why don't you go back to where you came from, Kitster?"

"There's nothing left for me in Mos Espa, Seek, my masters don't want a child for a servant."

Anakin casually walked up to the boys before the ginger-haired bully could give the kid known as Kitster a sock to the right.

"Is there something wrong?"

Seek dusted himself off and smiled wickedly.

"I was just playing."

The blond-haired boy had barely thought up of a plan when he said.

"May I join in?"

Seek stepped a foot aside to let him volunteer.

"Be my guest."

Anakin was now conflicted: would he beat Seek or Kitster? It did not matter whoever was the weakest, children in his mind were all the same. So he approached Kitster and swung his right foot into his stomach. It felt good to be strong until the stifling laugh from Seek urged him to swing both of his hands into his ears, boxing them. Before the red-headed boy could do anything else, Anakin gripped both of his ears and brought his body down onto Kitster's. Clapping his hands, he stood over the cowering boys.

"You two had better take care of yourselves, there is a new Tusken Raider in town."

The two boys were confused even after he left the city and headed back to the mountains, hoping that it was enough to pass his test of strength and fear.

By the throne of Sharad Hett on the mountain peak, was a large hole of water, used for the animals who came and went on their journeys. Anakin, having been denied of the Jawa Juice from the Cantina, was so relieved to find water that he actually swam in it. He stretched his hands out and fell in face first, drinking two quarts, then four as he turned around underwater, replenishing his strength, but his sighs were met by a frown when he saw the familiar figure of A'Sharad Hett standing over him.

"So you have returned? Have you proven yourself worthy?"

Anakin smiled, hoping he would train alongside him.

"Yes, I beat two boys up this morning."

"Anything else?" his mother's murderer questioned.

"That's all."

A'Sharad shook his head.

"Then I am afraid-look out!"

Thinking that he was going to be killed as promised when A'Sharad activated the green lightsaber, Anakin ducked into the water, joined a second later by a large Trooshti which seemed big enough suck his blood out in two gulps. The boy reached for the surface, but A'Sharad was gone in flash before Anakin could say "Thank you."

Nearby was a nuna, which seemed big enough to eat. A'Sharad steadied his lightsaber, holding it in his right hand, he pulled back and asserted himself. The hilt, still glowing green swung clockwise, spinning as fast as a propeller until the tip of the blade ran through the spine and out. Squealing, the nuna fell on its left side, dead, still and something that made Anakin cringe….but for some reason, it looked cool. A'Sharad turned to Anakin, presenting his prey as he explained, bringing a piece of meat close against the personal border of his face.

"Now do you see what we have to live for? This is not the world you live in, young Anakin. So why don't you act like the farmer you are go back to your family."

Anakin furiously shook his head, the ring of his bell symbolizing his decision and again, he almost revealed his true motive.

"No! Not until I defffffffffffffffffeat the most dangerous creature on this planet. I will follow you wherever you go."

And so he did.

Sharad was generous enough to let Anakin live with the Tuskens, but he was not about to train him to be fighter just about yet, he had know more about the Jundland Wastes that what he already knew. His first task was to do the same thing A'Sharad had showed him earlier, how to hunt a nuna. For starters, he was given a vibroknife, that would allow him to cut the animal's body open without using too much effort. He was also taught how to speak their language if he was to communicate with any other members of the tribe and the first words he was taught were " _tuyiskt sisktn_ " which meant "hunting grounds", as in the grounds he was restricted to. It was difficult to find a nuna that he could simply grab by the hind legs and any attempt that he did resulted in bringing his face down to earth. A'Sharad watched the boy as he tried to chase a nuna without falling down the mountain.

"When I rid of you," Anakin whispered in a voice that A'Sharad could not hear. "I'll be feasting on your remains, and I'll share them with my family as soon as I return and tell them all about how I got rid of the man who killed my mother."

Night came and Anakin had just returned from capturing a nuna. He looked exhausted and scuffed when he bought the body to the top and he was obviously tired and hungry, with a small lust for the nuna's giblets to satisfy his stomach. He looked up to A'Sharad, who came to see where he had gone off to.

"I told you, A'Sharad: Wherever you go, I go. I will not lose to a murd-"

Thankfully, the Tusken did not hear him as he collapsed to the ground and fell into a sleep, muttering.

"I want to become a...Tusken Raider."

A'Sharad knelt down to Anakin and stroked his hair. His fingers were slowly soothing his back, and even he doubted that Anakin could hear him in his sleep, he gave him a warning.

"Be careful what you wish for Anakin, someday it might take you over and turn you into something ugly."

Whatever sympathy he had for the boy made him regret killing his mother like a wild animal and he wondered how he would feel if he had accidently killed his own mother. But he pushed that thought aside when he went to sleep, closer to his new baby brother.

The next day, Anakin was tasked by Sharad to find a suitable animal that would become their dinner, he agreed and set off down the mountain, a part of which K'Sheek had told him that would be plenty of food there…even eggs. Close to the bottom, he did find a nest with at least five eggs belonging to a red bonegnawer.

But she was not alone.

She was fighting against a white furred nexu, whose sharp teeth bit into her heart and she fell a long way to the bottom, leaving behind her organs and the external piece of flesh that were consumed by the nexu. Watching her corpse hit the ground, Anakin knew that he was not about to let the nexu get his claws on the eggs first. He rushed to the nest, which hung dangerously on the branch of an ancient tree that seemed to strain under his weight and gipped the vibroknife with tight hands. The nexu's right claw swung at Anakin's chest, but he jumped back, his rear close to the nest that he was trying to protect. At last, the tree could not take on the weight of all three of them and the branch broke off from the root, sending himself, the nexu and the nest falling close to where the bonemawer's corpse lay. Anakin could see the nexu falling above him and held up the vibroknife. A roar of pain from the beast was the last sound that came from his vocals and his blood was now creeping up Anakin's right arm where the vibroknife had stabbed him—in the stomach.

Leaving the nexu and the vibroknife, Anakin saw the splattered eggs that covered the mother's body in yolk. What he thought were duds were actually alive and it did not occur to him until it was too late. The blood on his hand, the nexu's attack, the killing of the mother bonegnawer and the death of her babies were hauntingly similar to that of the event that brought him into these mountains in the first place. Anakin slowly approached the eggs in horror, seeing the blood that oozed from the mother bonegnawer who lay on her back. He did not wish to see any more blood spilt and he closed his eyes, releasing tears of overwhelming ache. His body shook all over like a leaf and he brought his legs down to the poor mother who had been trying to protect her babies, just as much as any other mother would do.

"I killed them…her babies are dead…every single one of them."

Overpowered by grief, Anakin screamed at the top of his lungs.

"WHY DO THE WEAK ALWAYS DIE?!"

Sobbing, Anakin buried his face into the ground, covering both eyes with his hands. It was an instant when he opened them afterwards did he see the true face of Sharad Hett standing above him, a man with no hair and an expression that made him feel sorry for the boy.

"Someone else has to die, so that someone else can live. Thus is the law of nature."

Then Anakin finally understood why A'Sharad had nearly killed him and took his mother's life instead.

"Then the rumors are true, you are cannibals."

"Only when worse comes to worse. We only sought valuables from your home and you simply, as my son tells it, were in the way. And if you could not move, we would just have to kill you to get what we wanted. You either live or you die. This planet and many other worlds in this galaxy are worlds of endless battles."

The words seemed to hurt Anakin even more, his world of idyllic wonder and happiness had been shattered and replaced by something suitably hard and wicked.

"But I only have a vibroknife. I can't fight like you, your wife or your son."

"Then why do you wish to become one of us? Was it something to do with my attack on your home?"

Anakin still had to wait. His left arm wiped his nose and he explained from another point of view.

"Maybe because of that…maybe I am frustrated because I spent my whole life living on a moisture farm, too scared to leave, too scared to stand up to your enemies…I HATE IT! I don't want to be murdered while doing nothing or for nothing like my mom did…I want to be strong."

Mentioning his mother again brought more tears into Anakin's eyes, they leaked, turning the brown earth into a puddle of mud. Sharad could only berate him with a face of a hardhearted man who was born a monster like all the rest.

"Go ahead and cry, eventually that frustration will become your strength."

Anakin's tears came to a complete stop, he looked up at Sharad with a newfound motivation.

"My strength."

Sharad's eyes narrowed and his lips formed a smile.

"That is right, Anakin. Living means knowing sadness. Use that sadness to sharpen your strength of your heart."

"In that case, I can become strong, can't I? I can be strong just like you and your son."

"Then you will follow me, and I will show you how a Tusken lives."

Anakin could hardly believe his ears, his plan was being put into action.

"Yes, my master."

He stood up, listening to Sharad's every word.

"Do you understand, Anakin? This world is hell itself, with death always waiting to pounce. Are you certain that you are ready for it?"

Now, Anakin had found all the courage he needed to stand his ground, against the enemy, against himself and anything else that stood in his path.

"I could go to hell itself I wouldn't care! My life means nothing to me! But I promise you this, Sharad Hett. I will be stronger and powerful even more than you and I will be the leader of your tribe."

All the rest of that day and beyond, Anakin trained with A'Sharad to become as strong as the Tusken's father. He too revealed his true face as a young man with black hair and some tattoo markings in purple on his face, it represented his hertiage and he knew that Anakin would stop at nothing in order to win. For practice duels, Anakin was given his own lightsaber, which glowed green, the same color as the lightsabers of the father and son. Through fair means or foul, anything would do if it meant defeating his opponent. Now he was beginning to know how a Tusken lived and how their philosophy worked, and it earned him a couple of scars and bruises that were instantly healed by a living deity known as the "Force", which gave a warrior his power and saved him from the brink of death many times. But as he learned how to live amidst death, he repeated to himself the same words that would motivate him until the completion of his training.

"Someday, I will be the most powerful Tusken Raider ever…"


	3. Episode 3: Revenge

In ten years, Anakin had grown from a cute little boy to a handsome young man. At nineteen years of age, he kept his hair short, for his external appearance that hid away his handsome face was quite macabre. What he wore were the sand colored robes of a Tusken that were designed especially for him with a mask that matched exactly like A'Sharad's, with the binocular eyes and a silver respiratory mouthpiece. He stood on the mountain, perfectly tall and still, his training had been worth it after three years and within the next three years, he was hunting animals, using his bell as a warning to others. The elastic material that held the bell had worked it's magic and it had grown with him into adulthood

"Look at me now, Sharad. I'm not a weak little boy anymore. I have gained my strength of the heart, my hands have become tougher than the rocks and I have learned the way of the wild, fighting with no fear of death."

Sharad smiled.

"Excellent, Anakin. Sometimes, even my own son and I are not able to dodge your lightsaber when you charge at us."

Anakin kept his position. What explained next had only a trace of the memory of his original plan.

"I owe it all to you. I do admit I was upset over the death of my mother, but you and your family helped me to discover why. I was reborn on this mountain. Now I even think of you, K'Sheek and A'Sharad as a father, mother and brother…a second family compared to my old one."

He closed his eyes, emphasizing his power being absorbed into his abs.

"I have decided to go with you to Hell."

Then he looked out at the rising sun, turning the dawn into the bright cloudless morning.

"Look, Sharad! Everything the light of the sun touches belongs to us. ALL OF US!"

And so, Anakin and the Tuskens became the most ferocious tribe known to all throughout the planet. With his eyes burning like fire, his body now fit and muscular, charging like an insane creature, Anakin was as fearsome as a demon.

It was the night before the beginning of winter and all through the salt flats, peace was about to be shattered—for the second time. Anakin, Sharad and the entire tribe stood about a mile away from a familiar hovel that had a round dome and a small entrance with an archway that matched all four sides of the exterior. To Anakin as he was looking at it now, it looked nothing more to him than just a regular home.

"This is where you were born," Sharad said to Anakin. "Your home."

"My home?" Anakin just scoffed at the idea. "I don't have a home. All I have is my blood, lusting for prey."

"My Tuskens will take the vaporators while you search the house for any valuables. Will you be able to do it?"

Hearing Sharad's words, Anakin smiled from beneath the mask and nodded, turning to his new mother and brother for conformation.

"Of course, I will, my master."

"If anyone in the house gets in your way, slaughter every last one of them. I'm just in the mood for human intestines."

Feeling no remorse for the family who thought of nothing but themselves. Anakin kept his ground and readied his lightsaber. A wind seemed to pick up and finally, he and the warriors charged, letting out a wild cry of war.

Inside the family kitchen, Cliegg Lars just was just about finishing dinner, letting C-3PO, Beru and Owen clean the dishes while he told stories about krayt dragons to his grandson Luke, who reminded all four of them too much of Anakin. They had given up the search for him a month after he left, agreeing that he had either accepted the raiders as his new family or was killed by them. Cliegg could not understand the theory of Anakin living with them after their son's leader killed his wife, but Owen believed that he was dead. Then was a loud and familiar cry that drew their attention.

Defying gravity, Anakin leaped across the sand, bringing him closer to the home. The bell around his neck and the humming of the lightsaber were the only sounds that rung his ears as he flew into the house and landed, staring blanklessly at the family that came in front of them. They had done nothing to make themselves strong, let alone the ability to fight off their enemies. Now they were going to get just what they deserved…death.

But one boy who stood in front of the crowd was curious and when Anakin saw him, his face, his clothes and his sandy colored hair, his lightsaber lowered. Beru's hands pulled her son back.

"Luke, stay behind me."

Luke obeyed and the moment he had done so brought a large tug of heartstrings into Anakin, overcome by a cavalcade of emotions and memories that he had not felt since he was nine years old. He shook his head, wondering where his true loyalty lay and that was when Cliegg stepped up to ask.

"Who are you?"

Before Anakin could responded, the sound of Sharad and K'Sheek's footsteps entering the house mad him turn clockwise. Underneath both of their masks, Anakin could see that he was furious. So was his wife, but this was between the two men.

"Why do you hesitate?"

"I can't do it."

Sharad began to sense Anakin's identity crisis, but what did it matter to him if he was a Tusken or a human? Murder was a universal act by any creature.

"Killing humans is something that even a weakling can accomplish."

"This is beyond you, Anakin," K'Sheek told him. "How can you refuse after we took you in?"

Cliegg did not hear any of the low voices that were speaking to his former son, but Anakin was now growing furious at what they were saying to him.

"I will show you the right way to kill a human."

Seeing A'Sharad watching his parents from behind and making his decision at the same time, Anakin activated his lightsaber and ran the great leader through his abdomen.

"NEVER!"

The lightsaber struck K'Sheek's hips, who screamed as she fell next to her husband. A'Sharad, shocked and quick to respond to the call of war, activated his lightsaber bringing it down upon Anakin before blocking it with his own.

"What do you think you are doing?"

Anakin pushed the lightsaber further, hoping to cut his head off. His reply to his foster brother was sinister

"Something I have been planning to do for a long time."

The duel that followed led them to the vaporators where the Tuskens failed to dodge the swings that followed. Some who tried to intervene in stopping the fight also ended up ran through it fatally decapitated. When the last Tusken was down, the two combatants were alone, swinging their swords left and right, up and down as well as slantways. A'Sharad had suspected that were was a deeper reason for Anakin to join his tribe and he was about to find out as soon as he remembered what he had done to make the boy hate him.

"Anakin, you have forgotten yourself."

Their lightsabers were locked together as Anakin shouted back.

"THEY ARE MY FAMILY AND I AM NOT GOING TO LET YOU HURT THEM!"

Finally, after colliding his right leg into the stomach, Anakin swung his lightsaber back, and true to his father's word, A'Sharad was no match for his adoptive brother. His hands were cut off in a single slash and he fell on his back, looking up at the menacing face of Anakin hidden under the mask.

"This is for my mother…"

And with both hands on the hilt, he brought the lightsaber down onto his chest. The blade of green remained there for a minute, letting the moment of seeing his mother's killer die at the hands of the person who could do her justice…her son. Once the lightsaber was deactivated, A'Sharad's blood began to ooze, staining the sand and stretching out by a couple of inches. He wheezed as he spoke his last words.

"Even though you deceived us all, I am proud of you, Anakin. This is the destiny of a lone Tusken. I always knew I would end up dying a miserable death after what I did to your mother. But I am glad…you were…the one…who killed me. I am grateful…Anakin."

With that, A'Sharad Hett, the rightful heir to the Tusken tribe had died. His words seemed to strike a chord into Anakin's head, but he pushed the thought aside and did exactly the same thing the now deceased Tusken had given his mother, a slash to the throat. He left the corpse, heading back to the house, ready to be reunited with his real family. He approached them more casually and they reciprocated with frozen blood, staring at the mask stranger who tried to attack Luke before. Luke was now clinging to Beru's left leg as Anakin stopped and prepared himself.

"Cliegg…"

He removed the mask with his right hand from the head and everyone else gasped in realization at the sight of his handsome face.

"I am your son."

Cliegg's eyes went wide. The gold bell was around his neck just as it had been so long ago. But he could not believe that the teenager standing in front of him had once lived under the same roof as his family. What he saw standing before him was a stranger and as such, his right hand slapped Anakin's right cheek, bringing the rest of his body to the ground.

"You are no son of mine," he seethed, holding some anger in his voice. "The Anakin I know would never kill anyone, even if they deserved it. You could not imagine how we all thought you were dead, how you just ran away from home without telling us."

Anakin, now small and helpless as he was ten years ago, was shocked by the slap and his words.

"I wanted to avenge Mom, so that I could be stronger. Sharad helped me to become what I am today."

Cliegg refused to believe his "son's" words.

"And you allowed yourself to let this Tusken beast twist your mind until you became the very thing you swore to kill?"

Anakin turned his head to Sharad and K'Sheek's corpses.

"At least I got rid of them."

"So what?" Owen cried, exasperated. "It won't bring Mom back, and now that you have already committed that deed…."

"It is too late for me," Anakin answered for him, looking at the ground.

Beru, holding Luke back, spoke with a hint of anger towards Anakin.

"I think you should go."

"But I got rid of your most feared enemy, and this is how you repay me? By treating me like a pariah?"

"I said 'LEAVE!'" Beru's tone was more harsher. "You of all people should know that revenge is not the answer to all of your problems."

And Anakin knew that without the Tuskens, he had no place to call home and the others watched him as he went away with a sad kind of look. C-3PO, among the only people in the room who expressed sympathy for the black sheep of the family, asked his masters.

"I wonder if we made a mistake sending him away like that."

Cliegg could only care less.

When he returned to the top of the mountain, Anakin removed the upper half of his clothing and stared at his reflection in the watering hole that he had drunk out of for the past decade during his training, questioning his sanity and his identity: was he a human or a Tusken? It was plain to see that he was a human and the fact that his mind was being pounded by the voices inside his head only increased his pain.

" _This world is hell itself…_ "

" _I will be the most powerful Tusken ever…_ "

" _I want to be strong…_ "

"… _worlds of endless battles…_ "

" _You are no son of mine…"_

"… _twist your mind…_ "

"… _became the very thing you swore to kill…_ "

" _It won't bring Mom back…_ "

Among the last words Owen had said to him, Anakin's head began to overload with conflicts of morality, giving him to strength to release his pain into the skies at the very top of the mountain and his lungs.

"WHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"

A burning question began to haunt him, had he done it all for justice or revenge? If that was the good he had done, everyone had seen it from a cold-hearted point of view. If that was all what good deeds were, maybe that was the reason why…they were bad deeds. The deed that A'Sharad had given his mother had gone unpunished in a theoretical sense and the circumvention that he had succeeded still meant that he would never see her again. He was certain that he meant well in his quest to pursue the meaning of life and where had it gotten him? Nowhere!

 _So be it then, let all laws agree that I am a monster who feeds on animals…and humans._

He should have succeeded, but he didn't and caused his family to turn against him all because he left home and committed a sin: never kill anyone. There would be no more good deeds, no more happiness and no more anyone. Anakin was all alone. A'Sharad was right, he was now facing the destiny of a lone Tusken.

"Sharad, A'Sharad, K'Sheek, everyone…I'm sorry. You showed me how a Tusken lives and how the strong die in the end. I wasn't able to become a Tusken. And yet, now that you are gone, where in the world am I supposed to go?"

He brought his head back to the sky for one last scream of anguish.

"WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"

Exhausted by his lust, his revenge and every other sin he committed during his time with the Tuskens, Anakin's head fell. The last ring of his bell sounded throughout the mountain and his forehead landed hard on a rock in front of the water, almost breaking his skull and producing a river of blood as he closed his eyes, continuing to sob.

"Mom...forgive me…"

For the first time in ten years, Anakin heard a familiar voice.

"I forgive you."

Anakin smiled. He had found peace at last.

* * *

For a long time afterwards, Owen and Beru would the hike the mountain from once in a while now that it was free from the Tusken Raiders and today it was a special occasion. It was their anniversary and the view from the mountain peak was tranquil and less rocky. Almost there had been no wind since Sharad Hett died that night and if there was, it was a gentle breeze. Holding hands, the two farmers looked out at the marvelous view that lay below from a place where evil had once stood.

"You know, Beru…it's strange. Whenever we come here, I can almost hear the sound of a bell mixed with the wind."

"You don't think it's Anakin, do you?"

Owen was certain that he could have seen a transparent figure resembling Anakin just twenty feet away from him whenever he looked over his left shoulder, but it quickly disappeared and his attention went back to his wife.

"I don't think so, but I guess the Jundland Wastes have a new guardian angel."

And even though none of the Lars family or anyone else ever saw Anakin again, they were certain that a small remnant of him was a little closer to home.


End file.
